ACES Identity Development Program

Term:

Spring 2016

Description:

The ACES (Achieving in College, Ensuring Success) Identity Development Workshop was held on April 30, 2016 at Mt. San Antonio College.  My cohort mates Giovanni Rodriguez and Highlong Kay and I collaborated with ACES staff (Diana Felix, Lynn Wang and Elizabeth Estevez) to provide workshops that help students, in this TRIO Student Support Services program, examine their identities, their own resilience and identify resources and networks that have helped them overcome class, social, academic, and cultural challenges in higher education. The workshops drew from Yosso’s (2005) theory of Community and Cultural Wealth and Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) Seven Vectors of Identity Development to guide the process.

 

Learning Outcomes:

SWiBAT apply theories to help serve as a framework for and a guide the workshops

SWiBAT practice their facilitation skills by collaborating with staff from ACES

Assessment Rubric:

	Advanced	Competent	Basic	Needs Improvement
SLO #1	Student was able to apply theories in the workshops, and synthesize them. Student was able to use the theories to help guide discussion with ACES students.  Student was able to relate how the information could be applied to their work currently and in the future as a student affairs educator.	Student was able to apply theories in the workshops, and synthesize them. Student was able to use the theories to help guide discussion with ACES students.	Student was able to apply theories in the workshops, but used them independently from each other and did not synthesize.	Student was unable to apply theories in the workshops.
SLO #2	Student practice their facilitation skills by collaborating with staff from ACES and meeting to practice prior to the event. Student worked with cohort mates and ACES staff to delegate facilitation of workshops.	Student practice their facilitation skills by collaborating with staff from ACES. Student worked with cohort mates and ACES staff to delegate facilitation of workshops.	Student practice their facilitation skills by collaborating with staff from ACES.	Student practice their facilitation skills on their own.

Evidence:

ACES Identity Development Workshop Agenda

Reflection:

I was approached by my cohort mate, Giovanni Rodriguez, about this program and to help facilitate series of workshops for ACES students. Immediately said yes to the opportunity. I was a great opportunity for me to work with other Mt. SAC students aside from Associated Students leaders who I have been working with closely for my fieldwork. I was also a great way to utilize the knowledge and skills I have gained over the past two years being in the Master of Science in Higher Education program at CSUF. Gio’s program design that drew from Yosso’s (2005) theory of Community and Cultural Wealth and Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) Seven Vectors of Identity Development really resonated with me because this is precisely how our cohort approached working with the community of Maywood for the Maywood Education Fair in 2015 as a framework to take an asset-based perspective in working with students. I was confident in helping facilitate some of the workshops because the work I have done as a graduate assistant for the Diversity Initiatives and Resource Centers and the Titan Dreamers Resource Center. Facilitating the workshops for the ACES students reminded me that I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience which I will continue to build upon as I transition to a full-time position. Facilitating workshops that had the students create journey maps and participate in identity corners, enabled us utilize Yosso’s (2005) theory of Community and Cultural Wealth to highlight the students’ assets/capitals (e.g. aspirational, social resistant and navigational capitals) that have helped them persist and thrive in higher education. I was really impressed by the level of vulnerability the students, the other facilitators and I showed in fully engaging with the activities and discussions. I would rate myself Competent for SLO #1.

I really enjoyed facilitating with my cohort mates and the ACES staff. Because I was only available on Thursdays and Fridays at Mt. SAC and my cohort mates have hectic schedules, we were unable to meet multiple times to prepare. We initially talked about it weeks prior to the event and again the day before. Fortunately, we have all facilitated and well acquainted with the various workshops and are very comfortable facilitating at this point. I really do believe that the program and our various graduate assistantships prepared us well. We talked about which workshops we would be taking a lead on and divided tasks amongst us and practiced on our own. We met with the ACES staff the early in the morning of the event to go over the agenda. It really was a great team effort. We connected quickly and agreed to be vulnerable ourselves to help encourage our students to do the same and be engaged and think critically about themselves and others. The students were very engaged and let themselves be vulnerable. The discussions were very rich and went really deep. Some of the students shared that they initially thought they were not going to share. However, because of the vulnerability that we showed and the challenge and support that we provided, enabled them to be vulnerable themselves. I would rate myself Competent for SLO #2.